Riding the Trails

Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Nikon 18-70
f/13 at 1/20
ISO 100

When panning a shot many factors come into play that affect the final image. The speed of the subject, the shutter speed chosen, and the photographer’s ability to track the subject all combine to determine the extent of blur and sharpness in an image.

In the previous shot of a cable car I used a fairly slow shutter speed and I did not track the subject perfectly. As a result, the subject is blurry although not to the same extent as the background. That does not make it a bad image. It does make it a little more abstract.

In the image of the cyclist presented here, I used a faster shutter speed and I tracked the subject almost perfectly producing a photo where the subject is quite sharp and the background is blurred. This is probably the best shot I have taken where I retained a good deal of sharpness in the subject while using this technique.